Cornucopia of wildlife at Ouse Fen 02

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Part two of my little expedition to Ouse Fen Nature Reserve, which finds me on the lookout for its smaller inhabitants as they hide in undergrowth, doing their best to keep out of my way as I trample through their habitat.

Which makes it sound like I'm engaged in some sort of wanton destruction of their little homes, and in a sense I am, and I'm glad. No of course I'm not, but there is so much happening in the shrubs and the grasses, that just the act of walking among them reveals a bounty of wildlife, as they scurry or flap their way to safety.

So a keen eye allows you to follow their journey, and hopefully snap them as they temporarily rest among the brush, it's actually a very absorbing way to spend some time, as it engages you completely. No wonder grasshopper is the name of a yoga position.

Cornucopia of wildlife at Ouse Fen 01

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Another visit to Ouse Fen Nature Reserve, a place I can’t seem to keep away from at the moment, mainly thanks the plethora of insect life that throng the flower meadows this time of year.

So cue some close up images of moths, butterflies, ladybirds, wasps, crickets, grasshoppers, skippers, spiders and dragonflies.

I’ve stuck half of them in this post and the rest will be in the next one, so check back in a couple of days for more colourful insect goodness.

Let the show begin…

Insects and abstracts at Ouse Fen

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In my continuing quest to photograph some of life’s smaller participants, namely the multitudinous variety of insects that are scampering and buzzing about this time of year, I took another trip to Ouse Fen Nature Reserve, predominantly in the hope of encountering some dragonflies.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you will no doubt recognise the name Ouse Fen, as I have been on several visits, for both the wildlife and the landscape. All of which can be found here, here, here and here. 

Holme Fen Butterflies

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Last weekend I paid a visit to one of my favourite places, namely Holme Fen Nature Reserve. This beautiful woodland oozes atmosphere, and is a beautiful place to visit any time of the year, mainly thanks to its dense forest of silver birches, which have to be one of the most charismatic of all the UK trees.

I won't go into the history of the Holme Fen, as fascinating as it is, and although there are a smattering of pictures in this post of the woodland, I have taken plenty more through the various seasons, all of which can be found here, here, here & here.

No, I was off to get some images of the summer wildlife that abounds in this Natural England run nature reserve, in particular, the various butterflies that call this place home while they are on the wing.

There were thousands of these colourful little flappers galavanting about the place, twirling around each other and flitting hither and thither above my head, and sometimes on it, if I was standing particularly still, trying to get a picture.

Below are a selection of images taken that day, when the butterflies were at rest, or sipping nectar, predominantly from the blossom of blackberry bushes, of which Holme Fen boasts an impressive number.

Fen Drayton nature reserve

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Over the weekend I took a trip to Fen Drayton, to visit the RSPB run nature reserve that can be found there. I was still on a hunt for wildlife and I thought I might find some suitable natural nuggets within its environs.

There wasn’t as much birdlife as I thought there might be, but I made up for it with some shots along the River Great Ouse, which runs through the reserve, and from rummaging through the undergrowth on the hunt for smaller quarry.

The reserve, a 108-hectare area comprised of several lakes formed from exhausted sand and gravel pits, is home to around 190 bird species, many of whom must have been in hiding when I visited. In times of heavy rain and river flooding, the entire reserve goes under water, including car parks and most rights of way.

It is planned that the reserve will become part of a much larger wetland area along the River Great Ouse, linking to the Hanson-RSPB Wetland Project at Ouse Fen, which should become Britain's largest reedbed within the next 30 years. In fact it was at Ouse Fen that the images from my last two blog posts were taken. Here and here.

Birdlife at Ouse Fen

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Following on from my last blog post where I expressed my disgruntlement at not being able to photograph the myriad birdlife at Ouse Fen RSPB nature reserve. Mainly thanks to the lack of telescopic prowess of my lenses, and where, to my shame, I told the birds to go shove it, for which I wholeheartedly apologise, I decided to give it another go.

My lenses had not suddenly acquired new found abilities you understand, but I was ready to do something I have always tried to shy away from if at all possible. I was prepared to crop my pictures, and boy did I have to crop them. I've always been of the mind that if the composition cannot be found while actually taking the photo, then to leave it be.

But needs as must, and I snapped away with blithesome abandonment, ready to hack away at the images when back in front of my computer, which is exactly what I did. So below are a selection of pictures from that reckless afternoon with the birds, along with a brief description of each one appropriated from the RSPB.

The deadly menace in our countryside

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I stumbled across this herd at the weekend, they had obviously just finished gorging on a fresh carcass, probably an unlucky sheep, or an unfit dog walker. But I could tell by the way they stared at me, their craving for flesh was far from sated.

I quickly made my excuses and got out of that field in double time. So take this as a word of warning, if you're in the Cotswold area just keep your eyes open, and always let someone else know where you are going.

These cows will kill and eat you.

Big Cats and their eye wear

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Not so long ago I posted a piece about photographing big cats at the Wildlife Heritage Foundation, you can in fact see that very post right here.

What I didn't include was what I got up to after I'd taken all the usual shots of the usual cats in the usual poses. Looking for something different, I waited until everybody else had left and asked the keepers if I could get some pictures of their charges just kicking back and relaxing, as they would when not on display to the general public.

Photographing big cats

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A little while ago I took a trip to the Wildlife Heritage Foundation based in Kent. This charitable organisation has been running The Big Cat Sanctuary since 2000, their mission is to protect big cat species around the world from extinction through their successful breeding programmes.

Part of the way they raise funds for their projects is hosting photography days, where you can get up close (but not too close) with the various species and get a few snaps.

Your not allowed in the cages with them of course, but you can get right up to the fence to get the shots, assuming that is the residents of that particular enclosure are not being too cantankerous. If they aren’t in the mood for a close-up, a quick snarl and the flash of canines soon has everyone stepping back fairly briskly.

Our first visit was to the cheetah enclosure, these inquisitive animals were quite comfortable with us being there and it wasn’t long before they wandered over, in that nonchalant way of theirs, to see just what we were up to. In fact cheetahs are quite easily domesticated, the ancient Egyptians and Romans used them to hunt, hence the name ‘hunting leopard’, although they are most closely related to the puma and jaguarondi.

While they are not a true ‘big’ cat, as they cannot roar, instead issuing mews, hissing, chirrups and yowls, they are one of the oldest extant cat species, still closely resembling their forebears from 200,000 years ago.

This one was getting quite bored with our company and obviously couldn't 
stifle that yawn.